


The sickness i bare.

by Annam03



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Body Horror, F/F, Headcanon, Lycanthropy in a way, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24069667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annam03/pseuds/Annam03
Summary: For many years Hornet had kept her sickness under lock and key. For many years Hornet had no reason to dread the start of a new week. But ever since she started to make her climb up the haunted kingdom known as Pharloom after being captured and dragged away from her home. Ever since she started to meet people she actually cared about for the first time in many years beyond the few in Hallownest that still breathed life within their shells. Shes grown to fear and hate the sickness she bared for so long.
Relationships: Hornet/Lace (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	1. Under lock and key

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to how the hell do I write a good fic : the sequel. So this is somewhat the second fic iv written and posted so far? I never picked the P5 one back up and only recently found muse to write this ones first chapter.
> 
> This fic is based on an AU I have for Hollow knight, in which I basically put werewolves where they shouldn't be, and now here I am writing a fic on it as well as shoving currently my only ship into it. Also there's some splatoon like elements as well, but I'll talk about that in the notes at the end of each chapter, on that note.
> 
> I will be putting my headcanons at the bottom notes every chapter when a new headcanon comes up or some further explaining of a headcanon is needed. Just know that this is gonna be headcanon HEAVY.
> 
> This chapter is also just to set the ground work of the general plot. So sorry for the lack of character interaction and speech in general.  
> as I will always say in my fics, I'm an artist not a writer, so don't expect the best writing.

Hornet listened to the pitter-patter and rustling her feet made on the grounds of the moss grotto, It was the only thing that could distract her from the growing pain in her body.

She had to keep moving, she had to get as deep into the moss grotto as she could. She saw the signs earlier in the day, it started with her extreme lack of energy, something she passed off as being her poor sleeping habits starting to catch up to her. Then she noticed later that there was blood on her just produced silk she had used to bind her wounds after an in counter with some bell-ringers that had given her chase, and any silk afterwords continued this trend of blood lightly scattered on newly produced silk. Her worries were eventually confirmed when she finally got to a bench later in the afternoon, she pulled out an old and cracked pocket mirror she kept on hand, and used it to look at her eyes, which, to her dismay, had a faint yellow tint.

For many years Hornet had kept her sickness under lock and key. For many years Hornet had no reason to dread the start of a new week. But ever since she started to make her climb up the haunted kingdom known as Pharloom after being captured and dragged away from her home. Ever since she started to meet people she actually cared about for the first time in many years beyond the few in Hallownest that still breathed life within their shells. Shes grown to fear and hate the sickness she bared for so long.

She was sick with a disease that many refered to as 'lycanthropy', though through her own research, this disease is somewhat different from the fabled disease that the humans of the old world told in their stories. Once a week, she would transform into a monstrous predator with only a small chance of keep control over herself after she's shifted. Before she barely cared, the shift was painful yes, but there was almost no one ALIVE in Hallownest, and she made sure never to be in an area with living people during a day where she is to shift at night. But now? She didn't know the areas of Pharloom well at all, there were foes that actually posed a true threat to her since she had met Ghost, and there are living, breathing bugs she's grown to care for, and most of them traveled often. She might be a stern and lethal huntress, but she wasn't heartless, she didn't want to infect them, or kill them for that matter, or get killed herself.

which is why she has cut her climb for the day, why she's running with all the remaining energy she had in her body.

Hornet slashes at the occasional moss grub and moss child that got close with her needle to keep them away as she ran. she was looking for the small makeshift den she had made in the moss grotto the first day she's started hiding herself down there. unfortunately do to how unfamiliar she was with the area, even with a map, she got lost easily, it probably didn't help that the pre-shift pains made it hard for her to focus. Hornet has failed to make it enough times to know that she would have to make do with where she was at if she didn't make it, not that her body gave her a choice when the hour of her shift finally hits.

She eventually came to a what was seemingly a deadend, a stone wall covered in moss facing the entrance she had just come from. Hornet went up and placed the tip of her needle on the bottom half of the wall, and started moving to her left, eventually coming to a stop when her needle goes through some hanging moss into a small hole said moss was covering. She sighed in relief, she wouldn't have to wake up sore and tired in the middle of the moss grotto again, this time at least. She sheathed her needle into the silk made sheath she had strapped around her cloak, and bent down to move the moss to the side with her hand. She makes her way into the hole and eventually, makes it to a small cave that was blocked off from all entrances besides the small hole she just crawled out from.

She made sure to look around the best she could with her now blurring vision to make sure no moss grub or child had found its way into her hideaway. In the back of the cave was a torn up bed of moss she laid on to rest before the shift if she had time, and if she had control after the shift, attempt to sleep, and To the left a makeshift work area so that she could make clean or repair anything if needed. From as far as she could tell, she was the only living creature here, so she made her way to the moss bed, removing her sheath and needle and placing them next to the work bench on the way. The moment she stood atop the moss bed, her limbs gave out on her and she fell face first on-to it with a loud thud. She groans as she rolled on-to her back, she sat up, but only to remove her cloak and place if off to the side for her to put back on in the morning, after which she falls back down with another thud.

She has the legs on her face move up and to the side to move the front plating of her head-shell so that she could at least breath while she shifted. She let out another groan, moving a hand up to lightly brush her black hairs just above her eyes, leaving it there on the soft chitin and hairs. She thought about what to do the tomorrow, she had made only so much progress in the area she was before, she didn't even find a place where her, what she assumed to be a massive dirtcarver, companion could get to her and help her travel between areas easily. This ment she would have to travel back by foot from the closes place, to Hornet, this was irritating and only slowed her journey a little more than her sickness already did, but there wasn't much she could do about it, which she hated. _Maybe I could take the other route I had found before?_ she thought, _there could be something I missed..._ , she continued to think on what she should do, noting things she remembers seeing, considering places she could check. _What if I-_

Her last thought are cut off by an intense pain shooting through her body, causing her to yell. She tossed to the side and held herself, she instinctively starts to stridulate as if she was hissing at an enemy that had just stabbed her. Her heart was racing, refusing to slow down as it began to pump now activated cells of the disease in her body through the rest of her body. Her eyes are shut tight because of the pain, however even though she couldn't see her body change, she could hear her chitin cracking and popping. She continued to yell out in pain, and It wasn't too much longer before her body became numb and she began to pass out, the last thing she remembers hearing is a loud, bellowing howl, then everything goes completely dark.


	2. Clashing blades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet is sore, and her head and heart are pounding, she groans and opens her eyes to the sight of the hole leading out of the cave she was still in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey its been, what a whole month since I last made the first chapter? This chapter went down what I like to call "the rabbit hole of procrastination", and I only found motivation to write and finish it June 5, on my birthday, so after I'm writing these notes I'm probably going to be eating cake. Anyways Enjoy and as usual, headcanon dump at the end notes, as well as extra post notes from me.

Hornet is sore, and her head and heart are pounding, she groans and opens her eyes to the sight of the hole leading out of the cave she was still in. She tries to roll over onto her back, only to be met with resistence from her own body. She tries again with more success, cursing under her breath as her sore back hits the floor. Hornet takes a moment to catch her breath after she made her body do such a draining task in her current state, eventually trying to at the very least sit up from where she's currently at. After several attempts she manages to sit up, taking deep breaths as she tries not to fall back down to the floor, she eventually begins to carefully stand up, being successful the first attempt.

Hornet looked around the cave, everything was the same besides how torn up the moss bed she had shifted on was, she begins to slowly make her way over to the moss bed. Once she got to the edge, she stopped to pick up her cloak and put it on, making sure to check for any tears and bite marks before fully putting it on, to her luck, there weren't any. She begins to elevate how sore her body was by stretching, she needed to know if she would be able to move at least decently before she left the cave. After she considered her body to be well enough from the fact she didn't fall over the moment she started to stretch, she walked over to the work place to retrieve her needle and silk sheath. She through the sheath over her shoulder, then sheathed her needle, taking a moment to let her body readjust to the sudden weight her needle put on her body.

Her attention then becomes directed at the broken up head-shell on the torn moss bed, she subconsciously went to touch her face, lightly brushing over hairs. She sighed, then walked back over to the moss bed to collect the head-shell, then return to the work place, she would have to Force molt a new head-shell, as the old was broken up to the point she couldn't even mend it with silk for a temporary mask till her body was ready to naturally molt again, she can however take the time to break it down more to use for repairing her tools. Continuing to postpone her climb didn't make her feel happy in the slightest, though no matter how well her body took her previous stretches, she knew better than to leave so soon after waking up from the night of a weekly shift. She was still sore, tired, and in no condition to take on a major fight, so she decides to wait for her body to regain its strength before she continued on. Hornet finally sat down at the work place, and takes out a small chisel like tool, and starts working at the broken head-shell.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was night by the time she rested enough to see herself ready to leave the den and the Moss Grotto, and it was dawn by the time she made it back to where she had stopped before. The place around her was a rocky and cavernous place, similarly to the Deep Docks, though fortunately for hornet it lacked the large amounts of lava. She dashed, jumped, and fought her way through, hoping that she would eventually find a new bench or maybe even Shakra so that she could finally map the area properly. She made it to an open area, an empty one at that, which already set off red flags in hornets mind. She cautiously moved forward into the room, making sure not to make to loud of sounds, studying the roof of the wide open place, as she had noticed there where rock platforms that she could tell she couldn't jump onto with her current amount of silk.

"Hehehe, why if it isn't the little spider~." an all to familiar feminine voice could be heard from behind, Hornets head shot back to where she came from and noticed that there was a rock platform behind her just above the entrance, and on that platform a white clothed figure jumping down from it with a jab of her pin at Hornet. She jumped out of the way just before Lace's pin pierced her cloak and chitin, Hornet quickly took her usual battle stance, prepared for a battle.

"Lace, so you continue to stalk me." Hornet said with venom in her voice, gripping her needle tightly.

"My my, such harsh tone, do you disdain our encounters that much little spider?" Lace said with a giggle, brandishing her pin, equally as prepared for battle.

Hornet glared at lace under her new head-shell and stridulates to create a hiss " _Your_ games can only be described as annoying and distracting." she snapped back, she just wanted to move on, and laces continual attempts to be a road block didn't raise her already irritated mood.

Laces eyes turn into a smiling glare "hmph, what a shame, sorry that my 'games' to put you out of your misery are annoying and distracting." she doesn't sound the least bit sorry, finally taking a battle stance herself, and with that, Hornet charges.

Hornet goes right for Lace, seemingly with the intent to slash her. Lace, in response, guards in the last moment, Hornet then suddenly jumps and twirls over Lace, and dashes towards the entrance she came from. Lace looks back with a look of surprise, but before Hornet could get to the entrance.

Lace yells out " Men! surround the entrances, don't allow her to get away! " , and after doing so, bugs in white outfits like Laces own attire block Hornets escape. Hornet immediately stops in her tracks, then turns to Lace and stridulates in anger, but is suddenly struck by Lace who took the opportunity to sneak up on hornet. Hornet Stumbled back, but quickly steadied herself and parried Lace's next attack, allowing her to swing at Lace to swat her away. Lace slid back when she touched ground again, quickly fixing her posture with a swing of her pin, she retreats backwards to ready for a balestra. Hornet waste no time dashing underneath Lace when she jumped, and as Lace reangled herself to redirect back towards Hornet, Hornet prepared silk, and once Lace got close, Hornet flung her needle into the air and unleashed a storm of sharp silk.

It's far to late for Lace to get away from Hornets attack, and she is cut by the sharp silk instantly, jumping back when she hits the ground before she's cut further. Lace again fixed her posture, then advanced with small hops and quick flicks of her pin towards Hornet, Hornet in response fixed up another batch of silk and dashed forward once she reclaimed her needle. Just as Lace got close Hornet side-stepped and once again released the silk she readied, this time she used it to wrap around one of Laces legs, and once she gets further back behind Lace, who turned around at this point, she yanked the silk back, the sudden force on Laces leg dragged her forward and caused her to hit the ground hard. Hornet took this opportunity to run for the other side of the room for the exit, ready to strike at the bugs blocking her way, Lace recovers from her fall, and follow suit to stop Hornet.

Hornet swung her needle at the crowd of bugs, and is met with resistance from a few parrying her attack and some attempting to strike back at her with their weapons. She get stabbed by a few, causing her to jump back, Hornet finally heard the sound of steps behind her closing in, knowing it was Lace, Hornet turns and parries just before Lace struck, causing sparks to fly from their weapons as they both fought to push the other back. Hornet struggles to push Lace back due to her already exhausted body, angrily stridulating when she's begun to be pushed back towards the crowd of bugs by Lace, Hornet glanced back to the crowd, and noticed that one of them was preparing to run at her from behind and stab, clearly being held back by others to stop them. Hornet had an idea, she continued to push back as much as possible, but not for the same reason as before, soon enough, the bug got out of the grasp of the others and charged, and just before she was stabbed, she used her remaining strength to force Lace back and dodge to the side. She tumbled down due to this, but it was only a few seconds after that she heard Lace scream in pain, Hornets idea worked, she recovers and looked back to where Lace was, now on the ground with a pin stabbed in her side.

"Mistress Lace!" the bug that attempted to rush her scrambled to Laces side, not long after others joined in, and for those that didn't, started to rush at Hornet in an attempt to attack and keep her away from Lace. She heard cussing and chatter from those around Lace, but her focus kept to those attacking, Hornet uses her remaining strength to fix one last bundle of silk, leaps into the air and flings her needle forward to fling herself over the bugs in white and rushing to the now unblocked exit. She makes it before any of them reach her, and as she continued to run, Hornet hears Lace speak just before she's completely out of hearing range.

"Enough! We retreat, for now." She ordered the bugs around her, Hornet looked back for a moment, seeing that Lace had the pin removed from her side and was standing with the help of the others around her. Hornet returned to looking forward, hoping that wherever this path took her, it would be somewhere she can rest after such a draining battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We know this song and dance from last chapter.  
> Key : AUH : AU headcanon (headcanon specific to the AU) H : headcanon (general headcanon)  
> \--------------------------  
> H1. Spiders can force molt, however this is even more painful than a regular molt.  
> H2. The area in this chapter is a fake area I came up with, it won't be touched on for a bit, but more information on it well be revealed in later chapters.  
> \--------------------------  
> Hu, not as many headcanons as I thought this chapter, oh well. Anyways this is the first time I have ever written a fight scene so I have no idea if its good or not, regardless I learned a few this while making this chapter, like new speaker new line. Next chapter won't be in the point of view of Hornet, and I can't wait to write the next chapter cause then I WILL have a lot of headcanons to show.

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon dump time!
> 
> Key : AUH : AU headcanon (headcanon specific to the AU) H : headcanon (general headcanon)
> 
> \--------------------------
> 
> AUH1. Humans use to exist many, many years ago, but died out due to unknown causes
> 
> AUH2. The disease mutated from back when humans were alive to infect bugs, spiders, and other insect creatures, it died out quickly in Hallownest due to the infection however.
> 
> AUH3. Unlike actual lycanthropy is depicted, the disease causes a shift once a week instead of specifically once a month on the full moon
> 
> AUH4. There is a chance one infected with the disease can control themselves after shifting, however its more often that the infected won't have control.
> 
> H5. Hornet has a sheath made of her own silk
> 
> H6. Hybrids usually tend to be deformed in a few ways, but are also quite unique as they often have some features that nether parent has. For example, Hornets other four limbs are on her face and her pedipalps are thin and weak.
> 
> H7. Hornet has a naturally grown white shell around her soft, hair covered head. Between her head and the shell is a thin but strong naturally produced glue like substance that helps keep it in place. four front plates are separate from the rest of the head-shell, and with the glue like substance, are attached to her four facial limbs. she will remove the head-shell if it is damaged to the point that keeping it will be more dangerous than not having it. A new head-shell grows each time she molts or force molts.
> 
> H8. Hornet is a tarantula, specifically Garmmostola pulchra (Brazilian black tarantula), she only has a little under half her body covered in hairs however due to her being a hybrid, all of it being on the chest upwards.
> 
> H9. Spider hybrids specifically are unique in they don't have abdomens like full spiders, their bodies follow how the other side of the families anatomy works, to make up for the lack of spider abdomen, the body moves the chitin that would have made up the abdomen to a different place on the body. This chitin is soft and can easily be punctured if not careful, while some spider hybrids develop a natural protection for the chitin, like with hornet head-shell protecting her soft head, others most protect their soft chitin through other means.  
> \--------------------------
> 
> OKAY I think that every headcanon I found worth mentioning that was brought up in this chapter, if you made it down here thank you for taking the time to read!


End file.
